Dear Saints,

We meet up with John the Baptist again in this week’s Gospel, and what a privilege: he’s a friend worth knowing well. John was nothing if not an Advent person, just as we are Advent people. We long with expectation for something this world cannot give, and this season is an ideal time to give expression to that longing.

Have you ever come to church for confession and, seeing how long the line is, feared that time might run out before you’re able to be heard? It causes a genuine ache within our hearts, to be so close to forgiveness yet perhaps find it beyond our grasp. That ache is a good thing - it signifies our desperation to be united with Jesus - and Advent is the time to give ourselves over to it.

John’s life was marked by a message of more. Not “more” the way the world defines it: more money, more comfort, more me. John meant more Jesus, and he stirs within our hearts that same yearning. Let’s spend the final week of Advent looking for satisfaction in the one place we’ll find it.

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ